With an ever increasing number of different sized and shaped boats, the contemporary trailers have tended to develop an ever increasing arrangement of bow, keel and stern supports for accommodating the great variety of trailers. Proper distribution of the weight of the trailer on the frame such that pressure on the tongue will accommodate a balanced connection to the prime mover has been attempted by having one or more stationary hull and keel support units mounted forwardly on the frame, and either bunks or gangs of horizontally and vertically adjustable rollers mounted rearwardly on the frame. Examples of various such arrangements are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,816,672; 2,948,423; 3,774,790 and 3,917,087.
Nevertheless, the trailer industry has not only not solved the constant problem of ease of adjustment for proper tongue weight distribution, but has exacerbated the problem by proliferation of the types and arrangement of gangs of rollers such that the problem has actually worsened. Further, there have been no improvements of consequence to the structures for supporting the boat hull and keel, other than that mentioned immediately hereinafter.
In my pending application, Ser. No. 07/112,476 filed Oct. 26, 1987, I revealed an improved boat hull and keel supporting assembly for use with a boat trailer. Although a decided improvement over the prior art, one disadvantage has been found that there is a tendency to cause some scouring and/or scratching of the keel by the keel supporting portion of that assembly due to the presence of sand, gravel and the like on the keel of the boat as the boat is being moved to relative to the trailer and during transportation thereon.
It is to the elimination of the problem of the proper support of the hull of the boat being carried by the trailer that this invention is directed.
Further problems of weight distribution of the boat on the trailer relate to the placement of the rare hull support arrangement of bunks or gangs of rollers, in that certain bridging or bowing of the boat trailer frame occurs due to an improper stacking of the boat load too far away from the wheel and axle assembly. This invention is further directed to the elimination of that problem.
Still another problem exists in the potential for the dragging of the rear ends of the rear bunks or roller assemblies in certain conditions of loading and/or unloading of the boat relative to the trailer. This invention is further directed to the avoidance of this problem.
Still another problem in contemporary boat trailers relates to an unequal support of the boat hull by particularly the rear gangs of rollers or bunks. The present invention provides an even fit and support equalizing the weight distribution of the boat on the trailer where the hull is the strongest.